Progressively More Coarse (So, this is February...)

Yesterday started at 9:30 with Angie's hair baby fine strawberry blond uniform layer cut, then 10:30 with Brian's dense and somewhat fine blonde combination cut. 11:30 brought Ben's euro fauxhawk, medium texture, kind of like mine, but his hair is darker and has more silver. Then after lunch, Gabe Webster, Krissi's elder son, and his wife both came in. Gabe's hair is wiry and wavy and has very puffy potential. I had to razor it out a lot to get the spiky, messy look he was going for without just having it look tall, wide and eraserheadish. He looked adorable. Finally and most coarse was his lovely wife Chieni who is chinese american and had the good fortune to get to grow up in Hawaii. She has that kind of Asian hair that is like fishing line, black black, shiny shiny and thick thick. I did her whole cut with a razor, actually I set the perimeter length with shears and then did the rest with a razor. I have to admit, I suprised myself a little with how easy it was. It was essentially my haircut, which I watched Becca do in the mirror on Wed ( she did it with shears though since if you cut my hair with a razor like that I'd look like i should be begging change and nodding off on Broadway)but I had never done it before nor had I ever cut a whole head without shears. It was fun and I feel WAY less nervous about razor cuts now, and I can see that it will make a lot of the looks I am going for with people a lot faster, easier and better looking. Thats what were going for here people! Speed equals profit! Ben called me just to tell me that his cut was one of the best haircuts he's ever gotten. Warms the heart. I love this business. It's worth having to ice my right hand and wrist nightly...everything has drawbacks! We are doing self marketing with Ms Dolores now (while lecturing she switches reading glasses about every four minutes even of she's not reading anything, and peices of her hair which is still pinned back with one large bobby pin in the front, stick absolutely straight up from the sides and wave around wildly while she talks,) which meant painstakingly going through how to write a resume and cover letter (Word/tools/templates/resume wizard...its that easy) She gave us approximately 17 handouts on the subject. Then we had to write sample cover letters and read them out loud. I have written more cover letters in my lifetime than I care to think about. And gotten a comparable amount of totally undeserved jobs. I can really sell myself, boy Ill tell you. Did you know I got a job as a NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR?? Amazing. Then, I had to leave early to go to the dentist which was unfortunate not only because I had to spend the rest of the day numb of cheek (and eyeball, do they have to have your head tilted down?) but because I really would have liked to hear everyone's letters. I'm sure it was a simultaneously painful and funny couple of hours. Plus I think I could help people put themselves together well. As you know I have spent a lot of time over this last year, mainly unbeknownst to them, watching my classmates and assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Given that and my superhuman skills in writing things that make people places and things seem better, more professional, saleable and interesting than they really are, I think I could be an asset to many of my classmates. I think I'll offer them my services. For a small fee of course...:)
I went to "late night" at Rainier Beach community center. It's a comm service thing that Ms V put together where we all go down to the center, set up shop in the gym and do neighborhood kids hair for free. I ts really popular and from 7 to 11 we are turning out braids, flatirons, curls and updos on kids from 2 to 20. Some are kids of white moms who either well meaningly adopted them or fell into interracial parenting with no idea what they were getting into. Either way its inexcusable to let your child run around with matted, dry broken off hair because youre scared to hurt them, you just never took the time to learn to do their hair or you "cant afford" to take them to someone who can. Its a shame. Then there are a lot of middle and high schoolers whose hair is SO broken from at-home relaxers, braids and ponytails left in too long, and tons of cheap gel. Not that they're starving or that this is the worst thing that could ever happen, but you have no idea how important having perfect looks and fit in style are to kids in school these days. Its sick. If your hair "looks crazy" you are clowned mercilessly. And it costs A LOT to get your hair did, so unless you have an auntie or cousin or someone who can hook you up, and frequently, youre goin' out looking kinda poverty stricken. Anyway it was fun, I came late, I wasnt gonna do hair cause I was tired, I was just gonna pick up Abena whose car was dead, and drive her home. She wasnt there so I decided I might as well do one head since I was there and its only 2 blocks from my house. This girl's hair was really broken, like from two inches in places to 9 inches in others, and had so much petroleum product built up on it that my lungs are sore and scratchy today from all the smoke. But I did a tall curly style with a swoop in the front that hid the unevenness and actually looked really good. All her friends (from Aki and RBHS) were standing around talkin' about "Don't think you're cute now," and "you are not even all that so dont get a big head just cause your hair is tight." And other compliments couched in jabs, which is how "urban" girls talk to each other. God forbid you say something loving. You could see the child's whole mannerism and self confidence change when she looked in the mirror. Damn, there go my friday nights, Ill be at RB community center if you want to find me.
Get this, the other impossibly simple task I had assigned Lexus of Bellevue, in my typical high maintenance and demanding fashion, was to order me a new key to my car. A lot to ask, but I feel within their scope of expertise. I got the box on wednesday, after they had called Mon and told me it was in. On Wed Sean (my homie in Service) asked me to send the check with the driver who was coming to bring me my still unrepaired vehicle, but then didnt give the key to the idiot driver who took 45 minutes of lost time between broadway and pine and harvard and pike (!!!!) When I called him to ask if hed maybe put it in the car, he told me it wasnt in yet! I told him to check with the parts dept as they had called me to tell me it was, he was suprised, looks like the right had doesnt know what the left hand is doing over there Sean boy! So today I open the box, which you could have fit two computer keyboards and a large box of kleenex into, only to find that it was COMPLETELY EMPTY!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Gaslighting, the national pastime.
Man these blogs get long fast. I just took a pause and had an interesting and productive discussion about Gay marriage, homopobia, and Islam with the cute young afghani american security guard at Beelzbub's Village. I think he may open his mind! The essence of my arguement was love for humanity should trump who's shtupping who. No matter what it says in a couple paragraphs in the Quran about Gog and Magog, or Sodom and Gomorrah it says a lot more about not condemning fellow man and god holding judgement while man holds humility. Plus who wants to agree with Geo. W Bush about anything?Kisses.